ChuckTs
Legend
Silver Level
Haven't written an article in quite a while so excuse me if I'm rusty.
There are two different specific concepts I want to address, and they both relate to bet sizing, balance and actual strategy.
4-Betting Preflop:
Assuming 'proper'-sized raises and 3-bets, this really only applies to hands where we have (very) roughly 100bb-200bb stacks, and here's why:
50bb effective stacks, 100nl.
Folded to Hero in the CO who raises to $3.5
Villain on the button 3-bets to $13
Hero 4-bets to $50 and is all-in.
With 50bb stacks there really isn't anything to do but shove after a 3-bet. A smaller reraise will do nothing but commit you, and it's simply out of the question. 4-bet sizing is not an issue.
400bb effective stacks, 100nl.
Folded to Hero in the CO who raises to $3.5
Villain on the button 3-bets to $13
Hero 4-bets to...
Now a standard 4-bet will be around $40-$50, and probably bigger if we want to really commit our opponent. Bet sizing is an issue, but not in the sense that I'm referring to.
Now consider 100bb effective stacks (100nl again). We're going to look at two different types of hands. The ones we want to stack with, and the ones we don't necessarily want to stack with.
Villain is your basic strong LAG. He has been a fairly aggressive, thinking opponent, 3-betting us light frequently among other aggressive moves. We know he's capable of 3-betting with suited connectors, small pairs, and just about anything if he thinks he can take the pot down. He does however shut down to 4-bets without a very strong hand.
We've been relatively tag.
Folded to Hero in the CO with XX who raises to $3.5
Villain on the button 3-bets to $13
Hero 4-bets to...
Hand 1: A♣A♦
Now obviously ideally with this hand we want to get as much money in preflop as possible.
What other hands are you willing to get that much money in? I'd assume pretty much KK, and possibly JJ+/AKs+ if the conditions were right. We can argue this, but against someone who won't put in action without QQ+ or AKs+, we should be sticking to the best of our hands.
Hand 2: A♣Q♥
Now what about if we raise and he 3-bets us? We know he's capable of doing that with a very wide range, and we know we're ahead of that range. What's the plan?
Well we could take a flop and try to stack him after we hit an ace or queen, but there's a problem with that. We only hit the flop ~1/3 of the time, and the rest he can have his way with us and push us off what is most probably the best hand. We also want to provide balance for the times we have a monster and want to get our stack in preflop, which is where the smaller 4-bet comes into play.
What if, with both hands, we 4-bet to $30 as opposed to the standard $40-$50?
That way we achieve both of our goals with both different types of hands. One, we still manage to get good value from our aces, and two, we can snap off his 3-bet bluffs with the lesser hands relatively cheaply.
You can see why this is a problem now with the smaller and bigger stack sizes. With ~50bbs you can just shove as you're both more committed, and with ~300+bbs you don't commit enough preflop with your big hands.
Folded to Hero in the CO with A♣A♥ who raises to $3.5
Villain on the button 3-bets to $13
Hero 4-bets to $30
Villain shoves (with a range of {QQ+,AKs+})
Hero calls
Folded to Hero in the CO with A♣Q♥ who raises to $3.5
Villain on the button 3-bets to $13
Hero 4-bets to $30
Villain shoves (with a range of {QQ+,AKs+})
Hero folds
AND gives himself a looser image, providing balance for the times when he's got a big hand. ie, next time he has a monster, his opponent will remember he 4-bet-folded to a shove, and villain might even shove lighter now.
Continuation betting in 3-bet pots:
This is something I'm really not sure about, so any input (correction, argument etc) would be appreciated.
Similar to adjusting our 4-bet sizing, we want to adjust our c-betting after 3-betting preflop.
When we 3-bet light, we want to be able to c-bet relatively smaller because we want to save money.
When we 3-bet a legitimate hand, c-betting a smaller amount is still fine since we'll often commit our opponent to their hand if they get involved anyways.
Hand 1: 100bb effective, 100nl.
Folded to villain on the button who raises to $3.5
Hero in the SB with A♣A♥ 3-bets to $14
Villain calls
Flop comes 9♣5♠Q♦ (pot is $29)
Hero bets $17
Villain might sense weakness at this point and either float, bluff raise, or commit his stack with another made hand that he wouldn't otherwise. The c-bet will still be effective most of the time, but we still meet the goal of getting money in and partially committing our opponent should he have a hand.
Hand 2: 100bb effective, 100nl.
Folded to villain on the button who raises to $3.5
Hero in the SB with 9♠7♠ 3-bets to $14
Villain calls
Flop comes 9♣5♠Q♦ (pot is $29)
Hero bets $17
This sounds a little contradictory, but villain really can't do much without a legitimate hand at this point. He will occasionally bluff-raise etc, but we still get folds often enough for this to work for us.
Thoughts?
There are two different specific concepts I want to address, and they both relate to bet sizing, balance and actual strategy.
4-Betting Preflop:
Assuming 'proper'-sized raises and 3-bets, this really only applies to hands where we have (very) roughly 100bb-200bb stacks, and here's why:
50bb effective stacks, 100nl.
Folded to Hero in the CO who raises to $3.5
Villain on the button 3-bets to $13
Hero 4-bets to $50 and is all-in.
With 50bb stacks there really isn't anything to do but shove after a 3-bet. A smaller reraise will do nothing but commit you, and it's simply out of the question. 4-bet sizing is not an issue.
400bb effective stacks, 100nl.
Folded to Hero in the CO who raises to $3.5
Villain on the button 3-bets to $13
Hero 4-bets to...
Now a standard 4-bet will be around $40-$50, and probably bigger if we want to really commit our opponent. Bet sizing is an issue, but not in the sense that I'm referring to.
Now consider 100bb effective stacks (100nl again). We're going to look at two different types of hands. The ones we want to stack with, and the ones we don't necessarily want to stack with.
Villain is your basic strong LAG. He has been a fairly aggressive, thinking opponent, 3-betting us light frequently among other aggressive moves. We know he's capable of 3-betting with suited connectors, small pairs, and just about anything if he thinks he can take the pot down. He does however shut down to 4-bets without a very strong hand.
We've been relatively tag.
Folded to Hero in the CO with XX who raises to $3.5
Villain on the button 3-bets to $13
Hero 4-bets to...
Hand 1: A♣A♦
Now obviously ideally with this hand we want to get as much money in preflop as possible.
What other hands are you willing to get that much money in? I'd assume pretty much KK, and possibly JJ+/AKs+ if the conditions were right. We can argue this, but against someone who won't put in action without QQ+ or AKs+, we should be sticking to the best of our hands.
Hand 2: A♣Q♥
Now what about if we raise and he 3-bets us? We know he's capable of doing that with a very wide range, and we know we're ahead of that range. What's the plan?
Well we could take a flop and try to stack him after we hit an ace or queen, but there's a problem with that. We only hit the flop ~1/3 of the time, and the rest he can have his way with us and push us off what is most probably the best hand. We also want to provide balance for the times we have a monster and want to get our stack in preflop, which is where the smaller 4-bet comes into play.
What if, with both hands, we 4-bet to $30 as opposed to the standard $40-$50?
That way we achieve both of our goals with both different types of hands. One, we still manage to get good value from our aces, and two, we can snap off his 3-bet bluffs with the lesser hands relatively cheaply.
You can see why this is a problem now with the smaller and bigger stack sizes. With ~50bbs you can just shove as you're both more committed, and with ~300+bbs you don't commit enough preflop with your big hands.
Folded to Hero in the CO with A♣A♥ who raises to $3.5
Villain on the button 3-bets to $13
Hero 4-bets to $30
Villain shoves (with a range of {QQ+,AKs+})
Hero calls
Folded to Hero in the CO with A♣Q♥ who raises to $3.5
Villain on the button 3-bets to $13
Hero 4-bets to $30
Villain shoves (with a range of {QQ+,AKs+})
Hero folds
AND gives himself a looser image, providing balance for the times when he's got a big hand. ie, next time he has a monster, his opponent will remember he 4-bet-folded to a shove, and villain might even shove lighter now.
Continuation betting in 3-bet pots:
This is something I'm really not sure about, so any input (correction, argument etc) would be appreciated.
Similar to adjusting our 4-bet sizing, we want to adjust our c-betting after 3-betting preflop.
When we 3-bet light, we want to be able to c-bet relatively smaller because we want to save money.
When we 3-bet a legitimate hand, c-betting a smaller amount is still fine since we'll often commit our opponent to their hand if they get involved anyways.
Hand 1: 100bb effective, 100nl.
Folded to villain on the button who raises to $3.5
Hero in the SB with A♣A♥ 3-bets to $14
Villain calls
Flop comes 9♣5♠Q♦ (pot is $29)
Hero bets $17
Villain might sense weakness at this point and either float, bluff raise, or commit his stack with another made hand that he wouldn't otherwise. The c-bet will still be effective most of the time, but we still meet the goal of getting money in and partially committing our opponent should he have a hand.
Hand 2: 100bb effective, 100nl.
Folded to villain on the button who raises to $3.5
Hero in the SB with 9♠7♠ 3-bets to $14
Villain calls
Flop comes 9♣5♠Q♦ (pot is $29)
Hero bets $17
This sounds a little contradictory, but villain really can't do much without a legitimate hand at this point. He will occasionally bluff-raise etc, but we still get folds often enough for this to work for us.
Thoughts?
